The SitePoint Forums have moved.

You can now find them here.
This forum is now closed to new posts, but you can browse existing content.
You can find out more information about the move and how to open a new account (if necessary) here.
If you get stuck you can get support by emailing forums@sitepoint.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Help finding a host

I'd just like to introduce myself as this is my first post on these boards. I was hoping someone here may be able to help me. I'm trying to hone my skills of the gd library, I've got the code figured out but I can't find a free host that has php, gd library and allows .htaccess files. All I want is to do some testing so I'm not really looking to pay any money. From google I've found tons of hosts with php and the gd library no problem but I've registered with 3 sites already, only to find they didn't allow .htaccess and the rest that I've looked at state they don't allow anything other than html, php etc as extensions.

I don't need mysql and won't be requiring more than 5mb space. Do you guys know of anywhere that would fit my needs?

Thanks

PS: I need the .htaccess file to tell the server to run a file with any extension as a php file.

You know, the reason most free hosts don't support GD is because it's server consuming.. why not install PHP/Apache/GD locally? Local apache installations support htaccess, and you'd have GD. That's your best bet if you don't want to spend any money.

I took your advice and installed xampp and you were right, was a breeze to set up. I got the testing pages and my own coded pages to show by going to http://localhost no problem however I'd like to put some files on the internet now.

I've got apache 2.0.51 from xampp but when I go to http://"my ip" (gotten from whatismyip.com) I get a "connection was refused when attempting to contact xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx". I've done some research, ipconfig shows my IP as 192.168.1.2, which seems to be the problem with a lot of people with my symptoms, however I don't have a router like those people did, so I don't see how to do the port forwarding thing that was suggested to them.

I've also done a port scan of my IP and it didn't show port 80 open, a simple netstat doesn't show anything listening on port 80 either. Its seems like it just something trivial that I've missed, like turning something on, however I can't find it. Does anyone have any ideas?

You don't have a router? A firewall? Anything? What ISP? Are there any other computers on the LAN? Can they access it by typing your local IP?

You might need DMZ, or port forwarding if you have a router... and it looks like you do, as 192.168.2.1 is a local IP, not a public IP. If ipconfig shows something different than whatismyip.com, it means you have an internal and external IP, which means you have a router of some sort.

Thanks for replying. I'm pretty sure I don't have a router, I definitly didn't buy one anyway. I don't understand why ipconfig doesn't show my public IP. I'm connected to the internet by an external modem, which is connected to my computer by an ethernet cable. I have a firewall, zone alarm and the XP firewall, but I tried with both disabled and both enabled and got the same results. I'm just on an ordinary desktop computer in my house running normal broadband, no network, so its just this computer, and this computer can only see it by going to localhost, no other way.

I've just looked into the DMZ thing which I've never heard of before, its part of the network thats not part of the internal network or part of the internet, but access to it is controlled by a firewall? So when I disabled by firewall the traffic should have been able to flow freely through this? Sorry for my lack of understanding.

About the port forwarding, if I had a router wouldn't there be a router configuration program (in start > programs, on in the control panel) that I'd have to go to set up the port forwarding. There is nothing that on this computer.

The default gateway is 192.168.1.254, the first two addesses I went to got "operation timed out when attempting to contact 192.168.1.1" but I've gone to the default gateway and its brought up this modem configuration screen that I've never seen before. I'm going to read through this, hopefully I'll find something good. Thanks

Also, as I recall, 192.168.1.254 is the default IP in ipconfig.. it doesn't mean anything. If your local IP is 192.168.2.1, then your gateway must be 192.168.2.*, unless you bought some huge expensive router that's meant to cover more than 1 C IP Class.

It could be the firewall which is giving you an internal IP, as it attempts to hide you from the internet the same way as a router/firewall combo would. Can you get to 192.168.2.1 and see your Apache localhost? What's the name of your computer? Ping that, what IP do you get? (Ie. My hostname is "Nathan" so if I go "ping Nathan" it gives me 192.168.2.100)

My internal IP was 192.168.1.2, not 2.1 so going to .1.254 would be correct like you both siad. I got the configuration screen on that IP which is for my modem, which is advertised on the box and on tv as "modem" but in all the techy guides online is called a router so I think thats the source of my confusion (was netopia for anyone interested). Online netopia guides were great and I created a pinhole to allow data to pass through the "router". Got it all set up working perfectly now.